Description
Book SynopsisMany experts believe that population growth is the greatest threat facing humanity. Others argue that the link between population growth and insecurity is unproven. This concise and provocative book discusses both sides of this debate, examining the way the arguments have changed and evolved, and questioning the assumptions of the main protagonists.
Furedi argues that the western preoccupation with population growth reveals more about the internal concerns of western societies than the socio-economic development of the south. He suggests that attempts to establish a causal link between increases in population and poverty lead to a pragmatic, even manipulative approach to the issue of development. Examining a broad range of key debates and controversies - the ''population bomb'' in Asia, the culture of a distinct regime of African fertility, the role of education in stabilizing population growth in Kerala - he contends that the marginalization of the goal of development is the outco
Trade Review
"The book's main strength is the identification and careful consideration of the range of perspectives that have emerged on population growth - and control - in the postwar period ... There is much to be commended in Furedi's 'unpacking' of the population and development issue." International Affairs
Table of Contents
Introduction.
1. The Numbers Game.
2. Does Population Growth Matter?.
3. Population and North-South Relations.
4. Forging the Connection between Population and Development.
5. Development and Population Growth.
6. Influencing Fertility: Modernization without Development.
7. Targeting Women.
8. Environmentalism to the Rescue.
9. Conclusions: Population and Development Discourse - the Parting of the Ways.
Notes.
Bibliography.
Index.
